• The 2013 Big 12 baseball season kicks off with 29 games this weekend. Competition against ranked teams includes league newcomer TCU which opens its campaign at No. 13 Mississippi and Oklahoma State who will face No. 21 New Mexico. Baylor also hits the road to take on UC Irvine, who is ranked 30th according to Collegiate Baseball.

• Four Big 12 teams are ranked in at least one of the four national preseason polls. League newcomer TCU is ranked as high as No. 12 (USA Today Coaches' Poll) while Oklahoma's highest spot is No. 14 (Collegiate Baseball). Baylor is also ranked with a No. 23 spot on the USA Today list while Texas is ranked No. 21 by Collegiate Baseball. The USA Today Coaches' Poll has five league teams ranked or receiving votes - TCU (No. 12), Oklahoma (No. 16), Baylor (No. 23), and Oklahoma State and Texas receiving votes.

• Individually, six Big 12 student-athletes have been named to the Louisville Slugger Preseason All-America Teams, while five made the Baseball America Preseason teams. Dillon Overton (Oklahoma), Andrew Mitchell (TCU) and Corey Knebel (Texas) are included on both lists.

• Knebel, along with Max Garner (Baylor) and Nate Williams (Kansas State), is also featured on the NCBWA Preseason Watch List for the Stopper of the Year Award.

• Oklahoma was selected as the preseason favorite to win the 2013 Big 12 baseball regular season. In a vote by the league's head coaches, the Sooners earned six first-place votes.TCU tallied the remaining three first-place votes for the second place spot. Oklahoma has never claimed a Big 12 title and has won the postseason crown on just one occasion - at the inaugural event in 1997.

• The Big 12 welcomes two new teams to the Conference this spring and four new head coaches, including Jim Schlossnagle (TCU, 10th season) and Randy Mazey (West Virginia, first season). Josh Holliday, a four-year letterwinner for the Cowboys from 1996-99, takes over at Oklahoma State, while Tim Tadlock begins his first season at Texas Tech.

• The five league coaches who are not new to the Conference have all been in the Big 12 for at least eight years, including Steve Smith (Baylor) and Augie Garrido (Texas) who have coached in the league since its first season in 1997 (17 years).

• Texas closer Corey Knebel is the only active player entering 2013 on any of the Big 12 all-time career statistical lists. Knebel's 1.67 career ERA entering the season currently ranks third. The junior's 28 saves is tied for seventh, which is 13 away from the No. 1 spot held by former UT closer Huston Street.